5 Tips on Preserving your TRUE Holiday Memories

From time to time, I like to write up personal posts. This is one of them. The title on this blog post may be a bit misleading, but you’ll see what I mean when I start talking about personal photos. Some of these tips are just a good old fashioned, snap out of it and document your life! We have birth certificates that show we were born, death certificates to show that we died, our photos and photo books are the only memories to show .. that we lived!

1. Stop Editing Yourself out of Your Kids’ Memories

I just need need to lose ten more pounds before I get snapped with my family. My hair is a mess, I think I’ll just take a picture of the kids. Well these types of excuses are just that, excuses. Your family and children love you as you are – they loved you at your best and your worst. Your kids look up to you and love you. It’s all in your head how you think you should look for a picture. My daughter took a picture of me helping my son up at a holiday store to see what color sparkles he wanted. My hair was in a pony tail, I was wrestling with an 8-year-old and the photo made me laugh so much, that it’s definitely being printed. These are the kind of moments I cherish, fleeting and funny. If I would have worried about how I looked, this moment would have been gone for good. It’s wonderful to see myself through my children’s eyes.

2. Stop Micro-Managing your Memories

Every year we get ready to make our coveted ginger bread houses. I wanted to intervene and help the 8 year old with his house, but again, it was so funny because he kind of had a difficult time, but rolled with it. He said his clone troopers destroyed it and set up some of his men to prove it. Meanwhile, the 12 year old looked like she built a french chateau. The image of these two ginger bread houses side by side just shows me how different my kids are and how funny and talented they truly are. I’m glad I let my son do as he wished and let his imagination run wild. He did the ol’ plan “b” — and made it work for him and he was so proud of it.

3. They Make Faces and Act Up, It’s OK

I asked my children to just go over by the tree for one quick picture. Well, it turned into a 3 ring circus. We had to get the dog in the picture, she is after all part of the family. We had to fake cry that I was putting them through a lot of torture for this one picture. Plus we had a child who could not sit still or stop making faces. I did not get that one perfect looking at me and smiling at the camera shot. I am ok with this, as this is my life and it is a more true reflection of the shenanigans that go on at our house. It’s silly, it’s happy it’s not perfect.

4. Include Other’s Photos

My children are at an age now where they like to take pictures with their ipods and my iphone. They might take a picture of the presents or their favorite ornament. Give them challenges of things to take pictures of around the house. For instance, take a picture of your favorite ornament. These are a reflection of how they see the holidays and what gets them excited.

This is the most important step. Your photo books never crash or defragment. Those jpegs need to live and breathe in a photo book. For little ones especially, they like the feel and touch of going through the photo books and pointing to different people and items. Now some of my images are a lower quality from my iphone, but I know this going in, so I’ll keep those smaller, no bigger than a 6×6 but the rest I can go larger. Organize your images loosely from decorating, to baking to the final days of present opening. In the end, the photo book will be a true, personal reflection of your lives and the holidays. This is not for your clients or for your business, this is for you and your family. Make it real and make it memorable. Life’s too short to be perfect. If you are looking for some inspiration on photo books check out our holiday gallery HERE.